| Abstract |
Captain Seedlock comments on his background in Ohio and his education at the U.S. Naval Academy prior to assignment to the USS SHAW during the spring of 1941. He describes duty aboard the SHAW prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, details of the attack as he observed them, and the situation aboard the SHAW during and after its explosion. Other commentary pertains to his subsequent work in submarine design, particularly that of torpedo, and missile systems development. |
| General note | Interviewer: Donald R. Lennon. Interview date: June 7, 1991. |
| Access restriction | No access restrictions. |
| Cite as |
Walter Seedlock Oral History Interview (#OH0133), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA. |
| Terms of use | Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law. |
| Acquisitions source |
Joyner- Gift of Walter Seedlock. |
| Biographical note | Walter F. Seedlock graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1941, and subsequently served on the USS SHAW (DD 73) until it sank in the attack on Pearl Harbor (December 1941), for which duty he received a Purple Heart. Then he was attached to Patrol Wing One and Submarine School (1942) before serving on the submarines USS SS81 (1942) and USS SS97 (1942-1944). After attending post-graduate Naval training schools (1944-1945) and receiving an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1947), he served on the USS SPERRY (AS-12), and then at Headquarters, Eleventh Naval District in San Diego, California (1947-1949), before his resignation from the Navy with the rank of captain (1949). He joined the Naval Reserves in 1949, and served on active duty from 1951 to 1954. His post-Naval professional career included work at M.M. Lowry Company (1949-1950) and at Climate Control Company (1950-1951) in Phoenix, Arizona; in the Development Division for the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (1951-1954); and as a staff member working on nuclear weapons design for Sandia Corporation in Albuquerque, New Mexico (1954-1956). While employed with Lockheed Missiles and Space Company (1956-ca. 1975), Seedlock served an integral role in the engineering of the Navy Polaris Missile Project. |
